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Archibald Foxe
Archibald “Two Box” Foxe is a member and founder of the The Friends of Cabina and a former member of the The Friends of Yakiyah and was a union leader associated with the Interstellar Confederation of Syndicates (ICS). He espouses a personal belief in Empathetic-Anarchism a form of anarcho-pacifism rooted in mutual respect. A man of many dual natures he is a pragmatist and an idealist; a pacifist and a pugilist; a union leader and an anarchist. Traits and Appearance Fairly short and broad, he is sometimes likened to a cannonball with legs. Balding if not bald since he turned nineteen, his chrome dome adds to the cannonball-like image. A tough wide chin is contrasted with an equally wide but friendly smile. None could point to a time when he as ever been brought to anger. Sure he might get a bit upset at something not going his way but rage seems to elude him even for a mere moment. :A gallery of images of Archibald Fox can be found at https://www.pinterest.com/foxyowl123/2-box-foxe/ Biography Early Life Unbeknownst to himself, Archie was not raised traveling the sector with his parents, instead, he was constructed. A product of House Cygnus’ bioengineering, Archibald Foxe is a Synthetic Human unaware that he is not human. He was built before the Fall of Gats in a program to create covert synthetics that were designed to infiltrate the greater empire. The psychological conditioning or programming has left Archie with false memories prior to 3193 and any code-words or phrases have died with his handler after they faced an unfortunate accident in the Moreux Belt. Voidborn in the Pavvis system, Archie has lived in space for his entire life. His parents were transient laborers and mechanics who hopped from ship to station following wherever work may take them. He picked up the family trade and ended up working across the sector taking jobs and contracts whenever he could get them. Life in the Ring To supplement his wages and to entertain his friends, Archie competed in underground fight clubs and became a formidable opponent in Wànnéng Wǔjutsu. The transient nature of his profession and lifestyle exposed him to a multitude of fighting styles and martial arts allowing him to hone his skills and utilize his unique physique. A man not phased by rage, anger, vengeance, or even greed in the ring, he maintained a cool, calculated, mentality that was devastating against hot-headed fighters. Rapidly, Archibald Foxe was becoming a known entity in underground boxing. He even began to have the ability to live without a contract for a few months in station just off his winnings, but he continued to work and toil on the machines. He did not do so for the inane notion of the “dignity of work,” but to remove undue suspicion on himself and to not ostracize himself from his community. The Philosopher The minor fame he achieved from the boxing ring along with his amiable personality made him liked among his fellow spacers. He became a prominent member of a spacer worker’s union affiliated with the Interstellar Confederation of Syndicates (ICS). Many initially assumed that he was little more than a thug to keep workers paying their dues or to threaten ship and factory owners, but they could not be further from the truth. Archie despite his brawn and martial skill is an impossible man to anger. Some say he wouldn't hurt even hurt a fly if it was sucking blood from his neck. His role in the unions he joined was not as a tough guy nor as a direct leader, but instead, he developed a theory of the world (see Ideology below) and helped strategize actionable steps for the workers to expand their rights and privileges. He remained committed to advancing workers to propagate equality, but he did not believe it will ultimately drive the change humanity needs. For that, more drastic events are needed to reset the clock. Archibald’s membership to the ICS and the various unions he has been a part is only temporary until he develops a clear and concise manifesto. His general philosophy, (detailed below under Ideology) is that of an anarcho-pacifist who values radical empathy to solve divisions in society. Although an off-worlder and pretty-much an atheist, he found solidarity in The Friends of Yakiyah. ICS had very little power compared to other spacer collectives like MDV and the Friends had developed a non-hierarchical and peaceful movement. He readily operated in both worlds as a voice in his union and as a Friend in meeting halls. When the Yakiyahn Mandate called its first elections, Archie along with many other anarchists across the planet abstained from the corruptible system. After the Election Never being a fighter or an instigator, the presence of the High Church’s all-seeing-eye, The Argo Machine, did not paint Archie as a dangerous revolutionary. Sure he held and holds ideals that are contrary to the Imperial status quo, but he has never called to overthrow it through human action. His distrust in the imperial system was equally matched by his distrust in the Yakiyahn Mandate’s legitimacy to govern. Moreover, he was always skeptical of the demagoguery of democracy. The revelation of the UPC conspiracy in The Yakiyahn Election was not a huge shock; It confirmed his position on the corruptibility of all hierarchies and organizations. The eventual fall of the UPC divorced Archie from the worker’s union which he had gotten his start in political life. Hardships that befell the planet cemented his relationships with The Friends of Yakiyah and other charitable organizations. What little savings he had stored away from his time in the ring proved invaluable as economic sanctions tightened around the agricultural planet. Eeking out a life when the cost of bread rose astronomically, his attention centered on bettering the lives of those around him rather than spreading his particular gospel. No longer preaching the good-life of the radical empathetic, he simply lived it. The economic hardships inflicted on Yakiyah and its population was a sizable strain for Archie and his friends. Together though, they survived those ordeals. Eridanii governance of Yakiyah was certain, but for Archibald Foxe little had changed, the system around him was not much more corrupt than the Yakiyahn Mandate. The faces of his friends had changed and he continued on, doing his best to help them all. During the end of the UPC and the extreme sanctions by House Eridanus of the Yakiyahn Mandate, Archie began interacting more and more with SERAPH, the Cabina-based charity organization, which had worked indirectly with Eridanus to undermine the YM legitimacy over the planet. When travel sanctions lifted and Imperial troops landed on Yakiyah, Archie found his way to Cabina to better understand SERAPH. An unofficial ambassador for the Friends of Yakiyah, his investigations into the Cabinan organization turned up no glaring problems with the charity. At least no more than could be expected from a network of corporations and charitable groups. Despite his repeated cautious messages back to prominent members of The Friends of Yakiyah about the moral legitimacy of SERAPH, a majority of communes agreed to work in tandem with SERAPH charities and become a sponsoring organization of the network. Archie's doubts included but were not limited to: the reliance on Noble companies to fund a considerable part of SERAPH, the amount of power vested in the Board and the Secretary-General, concerns about regional and local autonomy and self-determination, and all manner of hierarchical impositions. However, all of these complaints had their caveats. The sector is in trouble and no other entity is attempting such widespread betterment without an obvious greedy motive. SERAPH is the only organization that even comes close to Archibald's theory of radical empathy. As such he did not completely write them off in his missives back to Yakiyah. At a Loss The horrors inflicted upon the Yakiyans in the YM's final days and the dying revolutionary zeal hit Archie hard. Although externally he maintained his happy smile and positive demeanor, depression ate away from him in his quiet moments. Not morose, nor really gloomy to any extent, he merely shut off. He stopped promoting fights and limiting his time out of his bunk or room he shut off meaningful contact with the outside world. Presenting a mask to passers-by, he rebuffed or simply ignored any attempt to practice Archie's own philosophy with him. Picking up odd jobs in Benilli space, he retreated from his own existence. Once the charismatic face of a spacer union and renowned boxer, he adopted his name "Mechanic Foxe" without protest. While working on a Cabina Cups Tea vessel, the news of House Reticulum's political maneuvering on Orpheus sent a shiver down his spine. The heartless attack on Orpheus by the STO roughly than a year prior brought Archie into the sphere of The Friends of Yakiyah. This echo, or aftershock, reawakened him. The UPC was too militaristic for him before, but he still participated in its operation. Who would he be to say that SERAPH is too bureaucratic and hierarchical for Archie to find a use for them to spread his philosophy and aid? Armed with his message and a vaccsuit to protect him from dioxin rains, he began his search for The Friends of Cabina. New Friends Early on in Archie's travels through the Cabina Frontier he came to the town of Independence, a starting point for a handful of routes into the Frontier's western reaches. Staying at a refugee hostel he became fast friends with some of the suvivors and outcasts after breaking up a fight and peacefully mediating a solution to the disagreement. Patrons, amazed at how he brought the conflict to an amicable position implored Foxe to tell them they could do the same. A lengthy discussion on philosophy followed and Archie became fast friends with these patrons, his first Friends of Cabina. From that meeting in the hostel flowed an exponentially growing network of refugees and frontiers-folk united behind a mission of peaceful resolution of conflict and empathetic relationships. Estimates say that as of late-Summer 3201, several hundred consider themselves part of the Friends of Cabina, though naturally there are no registries to confirm that. ''Two Box'' Despite his reputation as a pugilist, the nickname “Two Box” comes not from his wicked one-two-punch, but from his time as a union leader. There are two different versions that friends of Archie tell, both aren’t overly complimentary. One supposes that at a workers rally Archie was invited to stand on top of a crate to give a speech once another speaker stepped down from the pulpit. When Archie stood up on the crate he was made only eye-level with the crowd and a second crate, or box was needed. The other follows a similar narrative but his weight, not his height was at issue. Archie was invited to stand up on top of a box or crate and once he stepped up, he fell right through. A second, more sturdy box was brought in to give him a position to look over the crowd. Ideology He would classify himself as an Anarcho-Pacifist, believing that the world would be best operated without any government and under a universal Empathy towards others. Four basic principles guide Archibald Foxe politically: # Humanity is described as the fundamental quality of Empathy. # Political violence is detrimental to the health of humanity. # Solidarity of workers unions is the first step towards achieving recognized equality of all. # The current social fabric must eventually be torn asunder to build a better society. One - Empathy :“The current age of humanity is plagued by a multitude of demons. War, oppression, tyranny, exploitation, violence, greed, corruption, cruelty… they all stem from a lack of the basic thing that makes us all human: our ability to communicate with, understand, and Empathize with our neighbors. This simple quality—the ability to internalize the thought and emotions of others, to connect with another—is humanity in its simplest form.” Empathy is the key to Archie’s construction of a society. Without it, humanity is unable to operate as groups. He sees that the conventions of the modern age, (oppression, greed, and violence) all stem from a lack of Empathy sector-wide. Foxe’s definition of humanity, the capacity to Empathize with others, extends implicitly to synthetic and alien life that demonstrate the ability to communicate, understand, and act on emotions. They are simply another class of oppressed peoples who will be all brought into a more just, egalitarian, and Empathetic humanity. Two - Pacifism An extension of his view on Empathy, Archie lives by an unwritten code of pacifism. This extends to all forms of violence that are fueled by anger, rage, and other hostile emotions. Political and personal violence, in Archie's theory, is the result of a lack of an Empathetic conversation between parties which is not resolved through harming the other. Instead, a dialogue that encourages shifting viewing a disagreement through the lens of the other side. He has taken a firm stand against any political organization which promotes physical violence against even the most tyrannical of oppressors. The essence of humanity, for both the individual and the community, is tarnished by acts of violence. To Archie, a violent revolution will not solve societies ills but will perpetuate them under a new order. The means of change will determine and be reflected in the ends. An Empathetic revolution, as difficult and improbable as it may be, is the only way to create a just and Empathetic future for all. Archibald’s pacifism is not universal, he engages in violent sports and has received flak from hardliners. Boxing and Wànnéng Wǔjutsu are separate from emotionally and politically driven violence. The social agreement between sportsmen creates a space divorced from the un-empathetic conflict of fists that celebrates the capabilities of humans and humanity. Although opponents and athletes that Archie meets in the ring might not see him eye to eye, he does not hold animosity or grudges with people he fights, seeing it as simply a way for him to help his community escape the monotony of a day’s labor. Match-ups were also a source of income that allowed him the economic freedom that is so lacking in this corrupt society to develop his ideology. Three - Unions Unions are the manifestation of the first steps of a practical Empathetic revolution. Although the organizational structure of unions is in many ways abhorrent to him, they are the most practical tool to undermine the power of corporations and the empire in a pacifist manner. A forum for civil disobedience and a source of political power, the union can pressure for advancing noble causes. In small, but nonetheless arduous, steps respect and Empathy between employer and employee can be earned. Solidarity of unions in support of the rights, freedoms, and equality of workers is the only actionable step towards universal Empathy and peace. Four - A New Society He sees that the conventions of the modern age—oppression, greed, and violence—must be first torn down before an Empathetic society can be built. The ideal society of the future must be bound by an internalized understanding of all facets of Empathy. The spread of a culture of Empathy across the sector is his greatest goal. For Archie, an Empathetic culture is one in which individuals respect each other, and for the good of the whole support one another to limit suffering. No societal framework is necessary, in fact, it might even be detrimental; rules and hierarchies are inevitably corruptible and are not needed if mutual respect of equals is maintained. Anarchy is not attacking a government in a chaotic and possibly violent manner, but rather it is the absence of hierarchies and codes that lead to the cohabitation of equals. The Catalyst Controversially, Archie does not see his fellow man as capable of realizing a proper Empathetic revolution within his lifetime. He sees that it is not the duty of humans to jump-start such a change. This new culture is however only possible after the end of the current one and most expediently be dissolved with non-human actors. A violent revolution led by the people who are to survive it is bound to fail in achieving peace because the means define the ends. Those that would lead a reckless charge against the empire’s oppression will no doubt adopt that oppression (albeit in a new form and name) and be blemished in the process. The ideal would be a second scream, total war, or the whims of the Guild. With sufficient spread of an Empathetic ideal amongst us all, when calamity hits we will be able to rebuild under a just new society. One that respects all individuals and encourages the collaboration of all without the oppression, greed, violence, or tyranny. Category:Unified People's Collective Members Category:Patreons Category:Characters Category:SERAPH Members